Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 13,000 islands including Java, the world's most populous island, and Bali, is as diverse as it is large. Having been a crucial stop on international trade routes since as early as the seventh century, the influences on Indonesian musical traditions are deep and wide. Music Of Indonesia, recorded in 1950, is one of the earliest western documents of this rich tradition. Featuring sounds ranging from beautiful Balinese gamelan orchestras and operas to the raw power of katjapi (a variety of boat-lute), and more, this is one of the best glimpses into the Indonesian musical traditions the world will ever see.

The Greek avant-garde composer Anestis Logothetis was noted for his pioneering tape techniques as well as developing his own notation system for composition that incorporated visual symbols meant to be interpreted by the performers. "Hör!-spiel" / Nekrologlog 1961 / Fantasmata 1960 collects three of his most famous works, realized in Vienna where he spent much of the 1940s-1960s. After completing studies at the music academy there, in the 1950s Logothetis became enamored of 20th century composers like John Cage and Earle Brown, and moved away from traditional composition for orchestras and performers in favor of fully electronic composition in the late '50s. A groundbreaking composer and electronic musician, Logothetis has long been underappreciated by the world of avant-garde and electronic musicians but Fantôme Phonographique seeks to rectify that issue with this brilliant release.

Fantome Phonôgraphique presents a reissue of eden ahbez's Eden's Island: The Music Of An Enchanted Isle, originally issued in 1960. Though he was originally from Brooklyn and raised by adoptive parents in rural Kansas, George Alexander Aberle, aka eden ahbez, is about as California as they come. He was discovered in the 1940s while working in one of Los Angeles' earliest raw vegetarian restaurants and was known throughout the '50s and '60s for being spotted on the streets of L.A. in full white robe, sandals, and beard, and legendarily camping underneath the first L in the Hollywood sign. After writing numerous hits for jazz and pop singers, including the iconic "Nature Boy" made famous by Nat King Cole in 1948, ahbez (who spelled his name with lower case lettering because he deemed only God and Infinity worthy of capitalization) recorded his only long playing record, Eden's Island: The Music Of An Enchanted Isle in 1960. A combination of exotica arrangements and beat era poetry, the album sold poorly at the time but has since become regarded as an exotica classic that transcends the trappings of the genre. Absolutely essential L.A. weirdness from one of the original L.A. weirdos.

Henri Pousseur was a Belgian composer, teacher, and music theorist active from the 1950s on, influenced by Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luciano Berio. Pousseur may be lesser known than those contemporaries but his composition and technique is regarded by many as equaling, if not surpassing much of the work of those more famous names. Realized in the same Cologne radio studio as much of Stockhausen's most famous work, this collection brings together some of Pousseur's greatest work, early tape and electronic masterpieces that deserve the recognition afforded many of his more famous contemporaries.

Rune Lindblad was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1923 and began composing music in 1953. This was a time when composers in Germany and France were feuding over the merits of electronic music made by pure wave oscillators versus Musique concrète, which used the tape recorder as its main instrument. Lindblad, however did not see these genres as mutually exclusive. In fact, Lindblad extended his work to incorporate other mediums along with his approach to music. Deeply involved with woodcuts and painting, Lindblad was already experimenting with using damaged 16mm film in his Optica 1 as early as 1959. Not surprisingly, since Lindblad represented no institutionalized school of thought, his experiments went unnoticed for many years with the exception of his demonstration of Musique concrète in a concert at Folkets Hus in 1957 where the audience demanded their money back and the critics called his concert "pure torture". Until a retrospective published by Radium in 1989 there were only two recordings of Rune Lindblad's compositions; one was the single side of a 7" record released in 1957, the other a full length album published in 1975. Both of these recordings were poorly distributed and remain fairly unknown. Lindblad taught at Gothenburg University; among his students were Rolf Enstrom, Ake Parmerud, and Ulf Billing. The music on Death Of The Moon & Other Early Works has lain dormant for almost 35 years. It was recorded at a time when Lindblad was forced to borrow equipment from the University in Gothenburg in the evening and have it returned by sunrise the next morning. These compositions are essentially tape music, where individual performances are fed back and forth between tape recorders in a style represented by the technical limitations during this time period.

Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of The Music of Roscoe Holcomb & Wade Ward, originally released in 1962. A magical collection of Kentucky's own Roscoe Holcomb, one of the most legendary figures of Appalachian music and a huge influence on the '60s folk scene, and Wade Ward, a Virginia fiddle and clawhammer banjo player whose style has been often imitated. Playing banjo, guitar, and singing in that beautiful high lonesome sound, Roscoe Holcomb covers the first side of this LP, in his wild and raw style. A coal miner for most of his life, Roscoe knew the world he sang of all too well, his authenticity is unassailable. Wade Ward handles the second side, with banjo, fiddle, and vocals, playing in the Galax style and with more composure than the at times unhinged Holcomb. The last two tracks on Ward's side come from the Bogtrotters Band. The idea behind this recording was to showcase the extremely diverse styles that two banjo players both working in the old-time tradition could have, even if they were raised only a few hundred miles from each other. Though he found some success in the '60s thanks to the Greenwich Village scene, Holcomb stayed a laborer in Kentucky and passed away in 1981 at the age of 68, suffering for years from asthma and emphysema, the results of his years in the coal mines. Similarly, Ward spent his life as a farmer, despite his musical talent. What we have here is essential, and authentic American, from two of the largest names in old-time music. Comes in a heavy sleeve with a hand-numbered sticker; Includes A3 poster insert with liner notes; Edition of 500.

Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of G.I. Gurdjieff's Improvisations. G.I. Gurdjieff was an Armenian and Greek philosopher, spiritual teacher, and musician, whose teachings of The Fourth Way influenced thousands worldwide and created communities that still exist to this day. His goal was to teach humans to reach a higher consciousness out of the "waking sleep" he considered most to be living in. Music was an important part of his teachings and these brilliant harmonium improvisations were recorded in 1949 in Paris, just a short time before his death. Droning and ethereal, these beautiful pieces mark a pinnacle in the work of a legend of human spirituality. Comes in a heavy sleeve with a hand-numbered sticker.

Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of Herbert Eimert's Epitaph Für Aikichi Kuboyama / Sechs Studien, originally released in 1966. Herbert Eimert was a German music renaissance man, with his expertise ranging from theory, to composition, editing, radio production, and criticism. He wrote numerous books on music theory, worked for years at the British occupational forces run Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk. It was there in 1951 that he established a studio for electronic music that he ran until 1961, which hosted recordings from Stockhausen, Xenakis, and Cardew, among others. This brilliant work begins on Side A with "Epitaph Für Aikichi Kuboyama", a brilliant piece of voice and electronics dedicated to a Japanese fishing boat radioman, who lost his life from complications related to radiation poisoning in 1954, after the ship he worked on was contaminated from fallout after the USA's nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll. In addition to being a brilliant piece of electronic musique concrete, it is a damning indictment of nuclear warfare, as prescient now as it was during The Cold War. Side B is made up of six studies in electronic music, showcasing Eimert's talents which are as impressive as his more famous contemporaries. Essential early electronic music. Comes in a heavy sleeve with a hand-numbered sticker.

Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of Pierre Henry's Orphée Ballet, originally released in 1964. Scored for Maurice Béjart's choreography to the Orphée Ballet, based on the Greek god, Orpheus, this is one of Pierre Henry's finest works of musique concrète, the genre in which Henry was an early innovator and to which he devoted his career. After years working for the French national radio (RTF) and honing his studio chops on radio spots and editing/composition, Henry formed his own studio in 1958 and began working on modern dance and ballet and soundtrack work. Incorporating percussion, industrial soundscapes, nature sounds, spoken French narrative, and synthesized tones, Orphée Ballet is a beautiful piece that while less known than what is perhaps his most famous work, also for Béjart's ballet production, 1967's Les Jerks Électroniques De La Messe Pour Le Temps Présent Et Musiques Concrètes Pour Maurice Béjart, is equally compelling and groundbreaking. Following his passing in 2017 at age 89, Henry's work has found renewed interest, and this is a welcome reissue of one of his rarest and finest works. Truly brilliant. Comes in a heavy sleeve with a hand-numbered sticker.

Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of the only known recordings from the infamous occultist, mystic, magician, poet, novelist, sexual deviant, and all-around misfit, Aleister Crowley. Recorded onto wax cylinder in the early 1910s, and later transferred to 78 RPM discs. The tracks include Crowley's recitation of the first two Enochian Keys, original poetry, incantations, and songs. An absolutely essential piece of occult history. This collection was originally compiled and released on LP in 1986.

Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of Pur En Finir Avec Le Jugement De Dieu by Antonin Artaud. Antonin Artaud was a French poet, dramatist, and director and one of the most important figures in 20th century European theater, and especially the avant-garde. His piece "Pour En Finir Avec Le Jugement De Dieu" was recorded in 1947 to be aired on French radio. But the project was shelved not only for its scatological, anti-American, anti-religious content, but also for its avant-garde sound, with screams, cries, grunts, glossolalia, and general cacophony, all of which the radio thought would be too shocking for the listeners of post-WWII France. Now regarded as one of his most brilliant works, the piece is finally available again on vinyl courtesy of Fantôme Phonographique. Features the voice actors Maria Casarès, Roger Blin, and Paule Thévenin. Edition of 500 (hand-numbered).

Fantôme Phonographique present a reissue of The Electrosoniks's Electronic Music, an LP by Tom Dissevelt and Dick Raaymakers's (aka Kid Baltan) originally released in 1962. Tom Dissevelt and Dick Raaymakers were both Dutch composers and electronic music pioneers. Both musicians began their studies at Royal Conservatory of The Hague on trombone and piano respectively, and later discovered the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Anton Webern. In the mid-50s Raaymakers began working at the Philips NatLab (the Dutch research division of the Philips company). Dissevelt was recruited by the NatLab soon after, and this is where they met, working on Philips stereo equipment and electronics, and eventually composing electronic music and musique concrète pieces together. Their first recordings in 1959 together, The Fascinating World Of Electronic Music, set the tone of experimental synthesizer space odysseys that would be perfected with their 1962 LP, Electronic Music, released as The Electrosoniks. Cited by David Bowie as one of his favorite albums of all-time, Electronic Music is a forward-thinking collection of bubbling synths and space-age atmospherics that is well ahead of its time. Since Dissevelt and Kid Baltan were employed by a research lab to compose and record electronic music, one might assume that the music would be soulless and restrained, but the reality is quite the opposite this is joyous and haunting and soulful music created by two undercelebrated Dutch pioneers who are finally getting the credit they deserve. Essential pioneering electronic music brought back to life by Fantôme Phonographique. Edition of 500 (hand-numbered).

Clear vinyl repress, forthcoming... Fantome Phonographique present a reissue of Jean-Jacques Perrey's Prélude Au Sommeil, originally released in 1958. Jean-Jacques Perrey was one of the earliest innovators in electronic music, creating a body of work spanning decades that has influenced everyone from Brian Eno to The Beastie Boys. One of the pioneers of musique concrète and electronic tape manipulation, Prélude Au Sommeil ("Prelude to Sleep") is Perrey's debut recording but shows a composer already at maturity. Originally released at the end of the fifties, as a private press under the fake institutional name "Institut Dormiphone", Prélude Au Sommeil consists of two side-long tracks played on the Ondioline (George Jenny's 1941 vacuum-tube based, spring-loaded electronic instrument). The music contained in this mysterious vinyl is like something between dreamy church organ hymns and the keyboard-based minimalism that Philip Glass and Terry Riley developed a decade later. The music of Prélude Au Sommeil was intended as sleep-inducing and tranquilizing for use in mental hospitals. It is unclear if the copies pressed actually had been distributed to mental hospitals or if the whole story was just a fantastical joke on the part of Mr. Perrey. This album is known as a precursor of what would later became known as "ambient music", 20 years before Brian Eno, the Kosmic Courier and the American minimalists. Something vaguely similar to Prélude Su Sommeil came about five years after its release, when in 1962 Epic Records produced the three volumes of Soothing Sounds For Baby from Raymond Scott. A droning/bubbling work of early electronic, Prélude Au Sommeil vacillates between playful and serious, light and dark, a truly beautiful piece from an icon of electronic music. Essential.

Fantome Phonographique present a reissue of Maya Deren's Voices Of Haiti, originally released as a 10" record in 1954. Maya Deren (1917-1961) was a Russian-American filmmaker and one of the most important voices in avant-garde cinema of the mid-20th century. She was a muse and inspiration to such up-and-coming avant-garde filmmakers as Curtis Harrington, Stan Brakhage, and Kenneth Anger, who emulated her independent, entrepreneurial spirit. Throughout the 1940s and '50s, Deren attacked Hollywood for its artistic, political and economic monopoly over American cinema. She stated, "I make my pictures for what Hollywood spends on lipstick." When Maya Deren decided, between the end of the '40s and the beginning of the '50s, to make an ethnographic film in Haiti, she was criticized for abandoning the avant-garde film world where she had made her place, but she was ready to expand to a new level as an artist. Deren not only filmed, recorded, and photographed many hours of voodoo ritual, but also participated in the ceremonies. It was in working on this film that Deren recorded the Haitian musicians found on these sides originally released in the very early days of Elektra records. Voices Of Haiti, a beautiful artifact of percussion and chant heavy ritual music, is one of the earliest and best Western ethnographic documents of voodoo culture in Haiti. It is unmissable both for its historical value and for the beauty and spiritual power of the music it contains. Original cover art for the album was created by the Japanese composer and performer Teiji Ito, husband of Maya Deren. Remastered; repressed here as a 12". Edition of 500.

Fantome Phonographique present a reissue of Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan's self-titled release, originally released on Columbia in 1966. Even though the original recordings are crackly and in low fidelity (but also deeply charming) it seemed necessary to repress this record for its immense historiographic value. These recordings are made available here with new mastering, in as clear fidelity as possible. Fans of Indian classical music will no doubt know the name Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan. He founded the Kirana gharana musical family with his cousin Abdul Karim Khan in late 19th century, which was one of the most prolific and revered gharanas in Hindustani classical music. In addition, serious American minimalist scholars and fans have also been heard echoing his name, linked to that of Pandit Prân Nath, his student for over twenty years. It was Abdul Wahid Khan who pushed his pupil Prân Nath into exporting the techniques of their music school, which brought Prân Nath to the US where he drastically influenced most of the then-emerging avant-garde New York scene. Terry Riley, La Monte Young, Rhys Chatham, Jon Hassell, Yoshi Wada, Marian Zazeela, Henry Flynt, Charlemagne Palestine, and more were Prân Nath's students and in some cases close collaborators. It is therefore clear how important it is to gain deeper understanding of the music of Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan. A celebrated singer and sarangi player, Khan forbade recording of any of his performances to avoid imitation by other singers. Only these three pieces survived, recorded in secret for a radio broadcast in 1947, just two years before the singer's death. A truly stunning document that is essential to understanding the modern era of Hindustani classical music, whose influential reach is immeasurable. Edition of 500.